SOURCE: Shepherd, Allen. “Never the Same Again.” New England Review 16, no. 2 (spring 1994): 163-67.

In the following review, Shepherd commends Doyle's poignancy and wit in Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

By the time I reached the end of my Spring travels I had endured a number of untoward events. Aer Lingus had lost both of my bags, leading to a substantial, unplanned investment in Irish underwear; then on a ferry across the Shannon an oil truck had rolled into and profoundly pleated the back end of my rented Nissan, leaving the car, without tail lights, illegal, and me, once more, separated from my luggage; and finally the IRA had blown up a large part of my hotel in Belfast, happily before I arrived.

All of this is to say that when I returned to Dublin for a last few days I was ready for some good things to happen...